Monday, October 22, 2007 - Middle River to Havre de Grace, MD

We went to shore to walk Sailor and seek out Barry’s help with the new laptop backup program. We hung around and helped Barry and Barb prepare to leave. They are heading south and hope to be in Jacksonville Florida by Thanksgiving and then on to the Caribbean for the winter. They were underway by 1230. They stopped at Long Beach Marina to pump out.

While they were at the marina, we raised the dinghy and engine topside and pulled our muddy anchor. We were heading out of Middle River around 1300, only a few minutes behind Beach Cruiser. We waved goodbye to our good friends. We will certainly miss them but know we will see them again.

Chesapeake Bay was choppy, caused by 15-20 knot winds from the SSE. It was a little rough heading across the bay but conditions improved as we turned to the north. We arrived at Havre de Grace at 1700, docking on the same “T” dock as the last trip. We went for a long walk with Sailor and cooked chicken fried pork chops, carrots, and mashed potatoes for dinner.

Sunday, October 21, 2007 - Our Last Day in Frog Mortar Creek, MD

We spent most of the day making preparations to head for Havre de Grace on Monday. I painted the TV antenna mount early and installed it permanently. Dora went to do the laundry. In the afternoon, we drove our new P.T. Cruiser to the grocery store and then to the Radio Shack to buy some things to finish the cable installation. Barry helped me install a program to backup our laptop computer. We said good bye to our friends John and Linda Yates and their son Dylan.

Saturday, October 20, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Dora and I continued the installation of the TV antenna. We pulled the wire down the mast and routed it to the pilothouse. I rode with Barry to fill our propane tanks and to buy some spray paint for the antenna mount. We had some excellent pizza with Barry and Barb from Barry’s favorite pizzeria in Baltimore. Dora made brownies for dessert.

Friday, October 19, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek, MD

I installed a new TV antenna mount on our mast, hoping to improve our reception when we are at anchor. We cooked fresh striped bass (rockfish) for dinner. It was our first time eating rockfish. We found it very good.

Thursday, October 18, 2007 - Baltimore Inner Harbor to Frog Mortar Creek, MD

We walked Sarah to the light rail station at Camden Yards around 1030 for her flight home. The train came about 20 minutes later. We walked back to the marina and prepared to leave by the 1200 check out time. We stopped at Anchorage Marina to pump out our holding tank and were underway by 1210.

It was a hazy day with limited visibility with 10-15 knot winds out of the east creating a chop on the Bay. It took us exactly three hours to reach Frog Mortar Creek. We anchored and then had lunch. We went with Barry and Barb to join their friends, Gary and Donna Padussis for dinner. Barry and I had worked on their theater room re-installing a plasma TV and speakers a few weeks back. We had a fantastic meal at the Milton Inn, a 267 year old inn.Thursday

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - Baltimore City Docks, MD

After breakfast we went for a walk in the Federal Hill area, which is west of the Inner Harbor. We bought a few groceries at the Cross Street Market. We dropped our purchases off at the boat, took the water taxi to Fells’ Point and walked to the Canton area. We took the water taxi back to Fells’ Point. We went to Woody’s Rum Bar for lunch and a brew. The water taxi brought us back to Inner Harbor for an afternoon nap aboard Seascape.

Wednesday evening we shopped for some small gifts for Sarah’s “kids.” We caught the water taxi to Fells’ Point and walked to Little Italy for dinner at Sabatino’s, one of dozens of restaurants in the area. The food was very good. The water taxi stopped running at 2000 so we walked back to the marina around 2130.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - Baltimore City Docks, MD

We had worked out a plan with John Yates to drive Barry and Barb’s PT Cruiser to the City Docks on his way to work and pick us up. We drove to Elite Spice, where he works, and dropped him off. Then we drove on to Columbia to visit with Dora’s parents, giving Sarah the opportunity to see her grandparents. This plan necessitated we get up at 0630 to meet John at 0730 across the street.

The three of us stopped at Columbia Town Center for breakfast at Panera’s. We spent the day with Mr. and Mrs. Leal and Dora’s niece, Jennifer. We drove back to Elite Spice, left the car for John to drive the car back home and caught a ride with Linda to the marina.

We walked to Fells’ Point that evening and had hamburgers and fries at Kooper’s Tavern and Grill. We had a couple of beers at Leadbetter’s Tavern and listened to a talented young woman sing and play an acoustic guitar. It’s a small world! We met a couple there that had seen our boat anchored on Frog Mortar Creek and knew John and Linda’s neighbor, Brenda. We were back on the boat by 2200.

Sailor had been a bad boy while we were gone! He shredded a cardboard box that still had a new marine TV antenna in it. No damage done to the equipment. He was getting even with us for leaving him home alone.

Monday, October 15, 2007 - Middle River to Baltimore Inner Harbor, MD

We set the alarm for 0700, so we could get an early start for Baltimore to meet our daughter, Sarah, who was flying into BWI from Fort Lauderdale, FL. By the time we had walked Sailor and pulled two anchors, it was a little after 0930.

It was a beautiful, cool, calm morning with few boats out on the Bay. We were tied up at the Baltimore City Docks by 1300. We were the only boat at the docks so we had the pick of slips. Docking was a breeze.

We took the light rail to the airport around 1530 to meet Sarah’s flight. She arrived nearly on time at 1715. We rode the rail back to Camden Yards, which is about a four block walk to the Inner Harbor where Seascape was docked. We ate on the boat, went for a short walk around the Inner Harbor, then turned in fairly early since we were all tired.

Sunday, October 14, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek, MD

After walking Sailor, I began troubleshooting the reason the main engine hasn’t been starting like it should using the starting battery. I thought I might have bought a bad battery last February but I found a very corroded ground cable between the battery and the engine. I rode with Barry to West Marine and bought a new cable and lugs. The engine started easily after installing the new cable. Linda invited us over for dinner. She served an excellent meal of pot roast, carrots, onions, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

Saturday, October 13, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Barry and Barb loaned us our future cruiser to run errands. Dora and I got haircuts. Dora’s cut was very short!!! We got back around 1300. I posted more on the blog and helped Barry with their solar panels. Dora stayed aboard to do some cleaning. We had baked turkey breast for dinner.

Friday, October 12, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek, MD

The wind blew all night from the NW and continued to blow hard all day although it was sunny. Around noon Dora saw that we were dragging anchor and moving toward the south shore and some docks at rapid pace. I ran forward and dropped our second anchor, a Delta, on an all chain rode. It caught immediately, stopping us about 30 yards off the docks in five feet of water.

The Delta anchor on a nylon rode never set as we were dragging and I was able to pull it in by hand without it catching. Dora used the windlass to pull the chain and Delta anchor on board while I motored forward away from shore. At first the boat didn’t move because the stern was aground.

We re-anchored deploying the Danforth first, setting it, and then lowering the Delta. Both anchors set quickly. Later I lowered a 40lb kellet down the anchor line to lower the pull on the Danforth. Wind gusts of 30mph continued all afternoon. John and Linda invited us to go out with them and we had some excellent pizza at Pizza John‘s.

Thursday, October 11, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

We went for a short walk before breakfast. It had cooled considerably during the night reaching the upper 40s. It started to drizzle before we were able to return to the boat. Around 1600, Sailor and I went to shore. I sat on the front porch of John and Linda’s house to get out of the cold wind to work on publishing nearly two weeks in our blog. Their sailboat is anchored near ours while the dock builder finishes installing some additional pilings. I helped John rearrange their spare anchor so it wouldn’t chafe the anchor line.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Dora and Barb went to the grocery store to buy provisions. They came back and dyed our pilot house curtains and Barb’s duvet in a large tub. I helped Barry with a small boat project and he fixed some problems we were having with our computer. We brought in the dyed fabrics in the afternoon. After we got back aboard, the wind started blowing from the north and it began to rain. Dora cooked a ham, sweet potato, and broccoli for dinner.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek, MD

I dropped Dora off at the Laundromat after Sailor’s walk. I spent the time reading the owner’s manual to Barb’s PT Dream Cruiser that we are thinking about buying for our trip to Texas in November.

After dinner we went to shore to watch TV on Barb and Barry’s boat and share the last of Hank’s birthday cake. During NCSI we noticed that the wind had started blowing, preceding a strong thunderstorm. We jumped into the dinghy and headed back to Seascape. By the time we were on board it was raining hard. There were high winds, rain and lightening for about an hour.

Monday, October 8, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

I helped Barry reinstall a plasma TV at a friend’s house. An electrician had messed up the initial installation. We had to cut six large holes in the wall to pull the power cables he had put in and run new ones. We didn’t finish until 1700.

Dora went grocery shopping with Barb and worked around the boat.

Sunday, October 7, 2007 - Baltimore City Docks to Middle River, MD

We filled the water tank and were off the dock by 0915. We stopped at Anchorage Marina to pump out our holding tank and left there at 1045. There was a lot of boat traffic going down the Patapsco River and we were continuously waked by large motor yachts. It was a little better out on the bay but as we entered Middle River things got rough again.

As we entered Frog Mortar Creek another cruiser was anchoring where we planned to anchor. We had to anchor a little further out from John and Linda’s dock. Their son, Dylan, came by in a dinghy offering to take us ashore. We spent some time with Beth, aboard Beach Cruiser, trying to make her cell phone work with our SIM card. Back on Seascape, a motor yacht passed us very close and complained that we were anchored too close to the marina, even though we were anchored more than a ¼ mile away.

Saturday, October 6, 2007 - Baltimore City Docks, MD

We went for a short walk around Federal Hill Park and came back to the boat for Hank and Maggie to pack. We walked them to Camden Yards around 1200 where they caught the Light Rail for the airport. Dora and I hated to see them leave and immediately missed them. When we got back we washed the entire boat and then went for a long walk, which called for a late afternoon nap. For dinner we walked to the Federal Hill area, bought Chinese take-out and brought it back to the boat.

Friday, October 5, 2007 (Hank's Birthday) - Baltimore City Docks, MD

We had a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes and all took showers on the boat. We took the water taxi to Fells Point and walked around. A festival was being set up for the weekend. We stopped at Kooper’s Tavern for a drink and ended up having an excellent lunch.

We spent the afternoon walking around Federal Hill, a community located east of Inner Harbor. It was more interesting in many ways than Fells Point or Canton. We stopped at Cross Street Market and bought bread, vegetables, and a birthday cake for Hank. While grilling steaks for dinner, Hank and Dora smelled something burning. It was a boat on fire at a nearby marina. There was quite a commotion with several fire trucks and a fire boat. Even a police helicopter hovered overhead.

Thursday, October 4, 2007 - Chester River to Baltimore Inner Harbor, MD

I was up at 0630 so that we could catch the tide down the Chester River. We walked Sailor, raised the dinghy, had breakfast, and departed at 0830. The weather was foggy and cool. It took us about 2 ½ hours to reach the Chesapeake. We listened to the blues on Sirius radio while Hank played the harmonica. We reached Baltimore Inner Harbor around 1300. We docked on the eastern side of the city docks near the promenade. A city employee stopped by to collect the $1.25/ft. docking fee. With electricity, a night’s stay costs $56.50. Dora and Maggie walked to the bank to get some cash and decided to do some shopping. Hank and I set up lawn chairs on the dock next to Seascape and watched people and talked. We went out to dinner to Babalu, a Cuban restaurant. It was a nice place, but not especially good food.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007 - Chestertown Marina to Devil's Reach on the Chester River, MD

We pulled away from the marina around 1200 and motored about a mile south of town and dropped anchor near the Chester River’s eastern shore in an area called Devil’s Reach. Hank, Maggie and I went out on the dinghy and fished for a while with no luck. Hank had caught a small blue fish while docked at the marina.

Dora and I took Sailor to shore just before dark. As we approached Seascape on our ride back, Hank called out to Sailor. Sailor flew like super dog off the front of the dinghy. I had to shift to neutral to keep from running over him. We had roast, rice, and broccoli for dinner.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007 - Comegys Bight off the Chester River to Chestertown, MD

It was a nine mile ride up the Chester River to Chestertown. We took a slip at Chestertown Marina in the center of town. After lunch and showers, we went for a long walk through the town. We stopped at Andy’s Bar to celebrate Hank and Maggie’s Third Wedding Anniversary. Dora and Maggie ordered mojitos, which weren’t to Cuban standards, while Hank and I tried a couple of beers. We had delicious grilled one-inch thick steaks, oven-baked potatoes, and a mixed salad for dinner.

Monday, October 1, 2007 - Baltimore City to Chester River, MD

We departed Anchorage Marina around 0800 for the Chester River. It was a pleasant ride down the Patapsco River and SE across Chesapeake Bay. We had to go south around Eastern Neck Island National Wildlife Refuge and then north up the Chester River to an anchorage in Comegys Bight, about 9 miles up the river. Using the Danforth anchor, we anchored in about 7 feet of water. There was a launch ramp about a mile to the south across the bight, where Hank, Maggie and I took Sailor to shore. The wind picked up a little and it was a bouncy ride back to the boat. Dora cooked spaghetti for dinner.

Sunday, September 30, 2007 - Baltimore Inner Harbor, MD

Dora and I walked Sailor around 0830. There were dozens of other dogs out for their walk. We skipped breakfast because we were going to meet Barry and Barb for brunch at a restaurant they recommended near the marina. Hank had too much fun Friday evening and passed going to the Bay Café. We had an excellent shrimp salad lunch with our friends and Barb’s daughter, Beth. Barry brought the dive tank we had left to be filled more than a week ago.

Hank felt better when we got back from lunch so we took the water taxi to Inner Harbor. We walked around all afternoon and stopped at Ledbetter’s, a small tavern, and listened to an Irish tenor sing for a couple of hours. We had enough shrimp salad left over from lunch for all of us for dinner.

Saturday, September 29, 2007 - Middle River to Baltimore Inner Harbor off the Patapsco River, MD

We took Sailor for his walk, raised dinghy and pulled anchor by 0830. Outside of Middle River, we cut behind Hart-Miller Spoil Island and then southwest to the Patapsco River Ship Channel heading WNW toward downtown Baltimore. We bumped bottom at the pass between Hart Island and Cackold Point.

The trip up the Patapsco River was uneventful except for the rude power boaters and their big wakes. We pulled into Anchorage Marina and pumped out our holding tank and then moved to a face dock about 1130. We secured the boat, hooked up the power, and headed to meet Hank and Maggie at the airport. We took the water taxi, walked a few block to Camden Yards, where we got on the Light Rail for the airport.

Hank and Maggie were walking away from baggage pick up as we entered the airport. We all went quickly to catch the same train we rode in on back to Camden Yards. We caught the water taxi back to the marina. All of this took only a couple of hours.

We ate on the boat and then walked to town and spent the evening at a bar named Cat’s Eye listening to rock and roll and drinking beer. We got back to Seascape about 0030.

Friday, September 28, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

After breakfast we loaded our dirty clothes into the dinghy and took them to shore. Barb and Barry were on their way to run some errands so they offered to drop Dora off at the Laundromat. I worked around the boat and made preparations to leave in the morning for Baltimore to meet my brother Hank and his wife Maggie, arriving from Corpus Christi, Texas for a visit. The wind blew 15-25 miles per hour most of the day.

Thursday, September 27, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

I rode with Barry and Barb to run some errands. We went to pick up my dive tank that we had left last Thursday at the dive shop for a “crack” test. It wasn’t ready as promised so we will have to go back Saturday to get it. Dora and I hauled out the dinghy and scrubbed the bottom again. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it was the last time we did it, primarily because we hadn’t waited so long to do it.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

We borrowed Barry and Barb’s car and drove to Columbia for a short visit with Dora’s folks. They both are doing pretty well. We got back around 1600. Beach Cruiser has been tied up at John and Linda’s dock for a few days while Barry completes some boat projects. He called me just before dinner and asked if I could dive for some tools that he had dropped overboard. I found his screwdriver and clamp but couldn’t find a small wrench he had lost on Tuesday.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Dora, Sailor and I went with Barb and Barry to pump out their holding tank. Barry wanted us to go to handle dock lines so he could watch Barb dock Beach Cruiser for the first time. She docked and pulled away from the dock with ease.

Monday, September 24 - Rock Hall back to Middle River, MD

We walked Sailor at Swan Point Marina and raised the anchor at 0930. The bay was flat calm and it was a pleasant three hour trip to the anchorage in Frog Mortar Creek. We tried two or three times to set the anchor in the right place. Each time it seemed to be too close to something. I went to shore and sat under the trees at John and Linda’s house and posted several entries in our blog. Dora stayed on the boat and did some reading.

Sunday, September 23, 2007 - Swan Creek near Rock Hall, MD

A strong wind blowing from the north awoke us around 0600. It was a new cold front. Our friends departed at 0800 but we decided to stay anchored for another day because of the high winds. Barry called after they were in the Chesapeake to tell us it was choppy. This reinforced our decision to stay put. The wind laid down by noon and we went for a dinghy ride up Swan Creek. There were widely spaced homes, marsh, woods, and farm fields. We had leftovers for dinner and watched a documentary on World War II on TV.

Saturday, September 22, 2007 - Swan Creek near Rock Hall, MD

We had breakfast on John and Linda’s boat, Jo-Lin-Dy. I took Sailor ashore at a wooded area near our boat that was covered with poison ivy. The Swan Creek Marina allowed us to tie up to their dinghy dock while we went into Rock Hall for a few hours. An old fashioned trolley took us the mile to town and gave us a narrated tour at the same time. We had lunch at Waterman’s Restaurant and then walked around town. We got back to the boat about 1700.

Friday, September 21, 2007 - Middle River to Rock Hall, MD

Dora and I made preparations to cruise to the Chesapeake’s eastern shore with our friends in John and Linda‘s new sailboat. About 1000 we pulled anchor and went to a nearby marina (Long Beach Marina) to take on water and 40 gallons of diesel, pump out our sewage tank, and buy some ice.

By the time we had finished, John, Linda, Barry, barb and Dylan were almost ready to raise their anchor but they still had to fill their water tanks and pump out. We went ahead and set a southeast course for Rock Hall, Maryland. We ran the engine at 1500 rpm and arrived at the anchorage in Swan Creek near Rock Hall at 1700. Our friends arrived around 1800 and anchored nearby. They all cane over for a spaghetti dinner on our boat.

Thursday, September 20, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

I helped Barry sand the fiberglass we applied on Wednesday. In the afternoon we went to the Olive Garden restaurant to celebrate Barb’s birthday which is September 21. From there we went to the Divers Den to fill one of my tanks. The shop’s equipment that tests for cracks in the tank wasn’t working so we had to leave it there and pick it up next Thursday.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 - Frog Mortar Creek, MD

Barry and I worked on a major project on Beach Cruiser most of the day. A year or so ago he had a new hard top installed over his cockpit. The work was poorly done and, as a result, it leaked in several places. The top was constructed in two parts. We applied three layers of fiberglass over the seam between the two halves.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - Anchored in Frog Mortar Creek. MD

Barry and I left about 1100 to go to his sister’s to install a screen door to the front entrance to of her house. The project went smoothly but it still took over three hours. On the way back to our boats we picked up Dylan Yates at Loyola High School.

Monday, September 17, 2007 - Herrington Harbor South to Middle River, MD

There was no need for us to get up early because it was less than 40 miles to Middle River. We departed about 0900. The wind was still from the north so we had to motor-sail most of the way. Just before we made our turn into Middle River, we shut down the engine and sailed to the anchorage in Frog Mortar Creek. It was pleasing to be sailing without the noise of the engine. We anchored around 1700 off John and Linda’s dock. It had been an exciting and enjoyable trip.

Sunday, September 16 2007 - Reedville VA to Herrington Harbor South, MD

Since we hadn’t gotten as far as we intended on Saturday, we were up early and underway by 0800. The wind was still blowing from the north but it was much better on the Bay than the day before. We motor-sailed most of the day. We pulled into Herrington South around 0800. The marina was part of a newly remodeled resort. We had an excellent dinner at the resort’s restaurant and turned in early.

Saturday, September 15, 2007 - Sailing form Deltaville, VA to Reedville, VA

A cold front blew in during the night. When we got up the wind was blowing hard from the north. We pulled away from the dock around 0800. The wind had really kicked up Chesapeake Bay. Although our heading was almost into the wind, we were anxious to set the sails. Before two hours had passed, the wind was blowing 15 to 20 knots with gusts to 34. The seas were 2 to 4 feet with some as high as 6 feet. Since the sails weren’t helping, John and Barry decided to furl the jib.

We were heading directly into the wind when suddenly the radar antenna, mounted above the first spreader, broke loose and came crashing to the deck. It knocked a hole in the deck near the cockpit where Barry had been sitting a few minutes before.

The weather wasn’t improving and we were all disheartened by what had happened so we decided to go up the Great Wicomico River and up Cockrell Creek to anchor near the town of Reedville, Virginia, instead of going on to Solomon Island, Maryland. I cooked potatoes and onions, chicken fried steak, and green beans for dinner.